Mamdani still views Trump as fascist

NEW YORK:

New York's incoming leftist mayor Zohran Mamdani said Sunday he still believes US President Donald Trump is a fascist, even after the two had a warm meeting at the White House.

"That's something that I've said in the past, I say it today," the mayor-elect said on NBC news. The self-described Democratic Socialist on Friday met the Republican leader, setting aside months of mutual recriminations and promising to cooperate on the city's future.

Trump, who had previously suggested the Ugandan-born New Yorker should be deported, even came to his rescue as the two addressed reporters at the White House on Friday.

When a journalist asked Mamdani if he continued to view Trump as a fascist, the president stepped in. "That's OK. You can just say it. That's easier," Trump told Mamdani. "It's easier than explaining it. I don't mind." In his NBC interview Sunday morning, Mamdani elaborated:

"I appreciated about the conversation that I had with the president was that we were not shy about the places of disagreement, about the politics that has brought us to this moment," he said.